Category: The Madonna

  • Origin and History – Effigies of the Madonna

    THROUGH all the most beautiful and precious productions of human genius and human skill which the middle ages and the renaissance have bequeathed to us, we trace, more or less developed, more or less apparent, present in shape before us, or suggested through inevitable associations, one prevailing idea ; it is that of an impersonation […]

  • The Virgin Mary and Child Enthroned

    Lat. Sancta Dei Genitrix. Virgo Deipara. Ital. La Santissima Vergine, Madre di Dio. Fr. La Sainte Vierge, Mère de Dieu. Ger. Die Heilige Mutter Gottes. THE Virgin in her maternal character opens upon us so wide a field of illustration, that I scarce know where to begin or how to find my way amid the […]

  • La Madre Pia Enthroned

    Then the Mother adores Madre Pia, afterwards so her child. This is properly the beautifully varied. He lies extended on her knee, and she looks down upon him with hands folded in prayer ; or she places her hand under his foot, an attitude which originally implied her acknowledgment of his sovereignty and superiority, but […]

  • Various Examples of Arrangement

    And now of these angelic and sainted accessories, however placed, we must speak at length ; for much of the sentiment and majesty of the Madonna effigies depend on the proper treatment of the attendant figures, and on the meaning they convey to the observer. The Virgin is entitled, by authority of the Church, queen […]

  • The Madonnas of Florence

    We can trace, in a large class of these pictures, a general religious significance, common to all periods, all localities, all circumstances ; while in another class the interest is not only particular and local, but sometimes even personal. To the first class belongs the antique and beautiful group of the Virgin and Child, enthroned […]

  • Votive Madonnas

    A large class of these Madonna pictures are votive offerings for public or private mercies. They present some most interesting varieties of character and arrangement. A votive Mater Misericordiæ, with the Child in her arms, is often standing with her wide ample robe extended, and held up on each side by angels. Kneeling at her […]

  • Family Votive Madonnas

    Not less interesting are those votive Madonnas dedicated by the piety of families and individuals. In the family altar-pieces, the votary is often presented on one side by his patron saint, and his wife by her patron on the other. Not seldom a troop of hopeful sons attend the father, and a train of gentle, […]

  • Half-Length Enthroned Madonnas

    As these enthroned and votive Virgins multiplied, as it became more and more a fashion to dedicate them as offerings in churches, want of space, and perhaps, also, regard to expense, suggested the idea of representing the figures half length. The Venetians, from early time the best face-painters in the world, appear to have been […]